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TaleSpin
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TaleSpin is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It first aired in 1990 as a preview-run on The Disney Channel before beginning its main run in syndication later that year as part of the programming block The Disney Afternoon. It features anthropomorphized versions of characters adapted from Disney's 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book, which was theatrically re-released in the summer before this show premiered in the fall,[2] notably Baloo the Bear, Louie the orangutan, and Shere Khan the tiger, along with new characters created for the show. The name of the show is a play on "tailspin", the rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral, and on the fact that tale is another word for "story".[3] The show is one of nine Disney Afternoon shows to use established Disney characters as the main characters, with the other eight being Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, Bonkers, Quack Pack, Aladdin, and Timon & Pumbaa. It is also one of two animated television series based on the book The Jungle Book, the second being Jungle Cubs.
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Development
The series was largely developed by writers Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove, who were also the supervising producers on the series as well as story editors. There were four production teams, each one headed by a producer/director: Robert Taylor, Larry Latham, Jamie Mitchell, and Ed Ghertner.[4]
Initially, Disney simply commissioned Magon and Zaslove with creating a thirty-minute animated program for them, with no requirements as to what the show should be about. Nearing the deadline for a pitch without having come up with anything, Magon hit upon the idea of making the story about Baloo, one of the central characters of Disney's The Jungle Book, which had recently been theatrically rereleased. The show Tales of the Gold Monkey was an inspiration according to creator/supervising producer, Jymn Magon. Similar to the main character in that show, they decided to have Baloo work for an air cargo delivery service, a concept also occasionally featured on Disney's successful DuckTales.[5] In order to add dramatic tension, they decided to maintain the impressionable son / bad father dynamic which had driven part of the plot of The Jungle Book, replacing the human Mowgli with the anthropomorphic bear Kit. Inspired by Cheers — then one of the most popular programs on television — Magon and Zaslove created the character Rebecca (voiced by actress Sally Struthers), basing her on the character Rebecca Howe and giving her that character's arc of being an intelligent and headstrong yet inexperienced manager put in charge of a fledgling business. Deciding to make the show a period piece, the pair lastly decided to make one of the show's primary locations a neutral zone inspired by Rick Blaine's bar in Casablanca, where they inserted the character of Louie in place of Rick. The decision to add Shere Khan to the cast was not made until later in the show's development.[6] Magon and Zaslove also took inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 manga Hikōtei Jidai, about a pigheaded man who flies a seaplane and fights air pirates. Two years after TaleSpin premiered, Miyazaki released an anime adaptation called Porco Rosso, which Zaslove felt took cues from TaleSpin.[7] Phil Harris, who voiced Baloo for the film, was initially hired to reprise the role; at age 85, however, Harris had lost some of his comic timing and had to be chauffeured from his home in Palm Springs for each recording session. His work was discarded and Ed Gilbert took over the role for the rest of the series.[8]
Famed Uncle Scrooge comic writer and artist Don Rosa wrote episode 6, "It Came from Beneath the Sea Duck", and episode 9, "I Only Have Ice for You".
The series was animated by Walt Disney Animation (Japan) Inc., Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd., Jade Animation, Tama Productions, Walt Disney Animation (France) S.A., Sunwoo Entertainment, and Wang Film Productions.[9]
Gilbert would continue to voice Baloo in other Disney projects, commercials, promos, miscellaneous, until his death.
Harris, who continued to do occasional voice acting until 1991, died of a heart attack on August 11, 1995, five years after TaleSpin premiered. Three years later, in August 1998, Gilbert fell ill from lung cancer and never recovered, and died on May 8, 1999, nine years after TaleSpin premiered.
Broadcast
After a preview-run of TaleSpin aired on The Disney Channel from May 5 to July 15, 1990,[10][11] the series began its main syndicated run in September of the same year. The original concept was embodied in the pilot episode and introductory television movie Plunder & Lightning which was the sole nominee for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming More Than One Hour) in 1991.[12][13][14][15] After its premiere on September 7, 1990,[16] Plunder & Lightning was re-edited into four half-hour episodes for reruns. The show was often seen either on its own as a half-hour show, or as part of the two-hour syndicated programming block The Disney Afternoon. TaleSpin ended on its 65th episode which aired on August 8, 1991, but reruns continued to be shown on The Disney Afternoon until September 1994. On October 2, 1995, TaleSpin began reruns on The Disney Channel as part of a two-hour programming block called "Block Party" which aired on weekdays in the late-afternoon/early-evening and which also included Darkwing Duck, DuckTales, and Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.[17] Later, the show was aired on Toon Disney, where it was first aired from April 1998 until January 2006 (with a hiatus between 2001 and 2002) and later from January 2007 until May 2008. Throughout its broadcast history, the series has been subjected to numerous edits.[18]
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Synopsis
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TaleSpin is set in the fictional city of Cape Suzette (a pun on the dish Crêpe Suzette). The city lies on an unnamed island, in an unspecified body of water, on a large harbor or bay enclosed by a high cliff wall. A single cleft in the wall is the harbor's only means of access. The cleft is guarded by anti-aircraft artillery, preventing flying rabble-rousers or air pirates from entering the city. The characters in the world of TaleSpin are anthropomorphic animals, though normal wild and domestic animals exist as well. The time frame of the series is never specifically addressed, but the helicopter, television, and jet engine are experimental devices. In the episode "Bygones", Baloo comments that "The Great War ended 20 years ago",[19] thus suggesting that the series takes place around 1938. Radio is the primary mass medium and the episode "The Incredible Shrinking Molly" briefly alludes to the characters having never heard of television.[20]
The series centers on the adventures of bush pilot Baloo the bear, whose air cargo freight business "Baloo's Air Service" is taken up by Rebecca Cunningham who has a young daughter named Molly. Upon his default on delinquent bills with the bank and his perceived irresponsibility in running a business by Rebecca, she takes over the business and renames it "Higher for Hire", making her Baloo's boss. An orphan boy and former air pirate, the ambitious grizzly bear cub Kit Cloudkicker, attaches to Baloo and becomes his navigator. He sometimes calls Baloo "Papa Bear". Together, they are the crew of Higher for Hire's only aircraft, a 20-year-old modified Conwing L-16 (a fictitious twin-boom cargo plane using elements from the Fairchild C-82 transport, Grumman G-21 Goose amphibian, and a Consolidated PBY-3) named the Sea Duck.[original research?] The series follows the ups and downs of Higher for Hire and its staff, sometimes in the vein of old action-adventure film serials of the 1930s and 1940s, like the Tailspin Tommy films, and contemporary variations, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark.[original research?]
Their adventures often involve encounters with a gang of air pirates led by Don Karnage, as well as with representatives of Thembria, inhabited by anthropomorphic boars, or other, often even stranger obstacles. There is no equivalent of the Nazis in the series, although one story in Disney Adventures Magazine, "The Dogs of War!", had the heroes encounter members of the "Houn" nationality, a menacing militaristic nationality of dogs from "Hounsland" who wear uniforms that are based on German ones and who speak in a mock-German accent.[21]
According to Jymn Magon (co-creator of the series), the relationship between Baloo and Rebecca was fashioned after Sam Malone and Rebecca Howe from the then-popular sitcom Cheers.[22] Some[who?] have suggested that their relationship bears a similarity to the screwball comedy films of the Great Depression, such as Godfrey and Irene in My Man Godfrey.
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Characters
Episodes
This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2022) |
The following is an episode list for the Disney animated television series TaleSpin. The majority of the series and storylines are stand-alones and bear little significance in the order they are aired. The only recurrent themes are Baloo's drive to save money in order to repurchase his plane (the Sea Duck) and Rebecca's desire to make a profitable living. As with many animated series of the time, there was no formal conclusion to the series. A comic ran for a short period and was then discontinued as well.
Select episodes were first aired on The Disney Channel in the spring of 1990, as a preview for the series; these episodes' Disney Channel airdates are given separately.
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Episodes
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References
- Ehrbar, Greg (September 25, 2018). ""The Disney Afternoon" on Records – Part 1: The Music". Cartoon Research. Jerry Beck. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
- "The Jungle Book (re-issue) (1990)". Box Office Mojo. September 4, 1990. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
- "TaleSpin". Entertainment Weekly. September 7, 1990. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- "Four production teams for TaleSpin". Animationsource.org. Archived from the original on July 2, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- Cronin, Brian (March 4, 2018). "Was TaleSpin Originally Going to Star Launchpad McQuack?". CBR. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
- "TaleSpin and The Jungle Book". Animationsource.org. Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- "TaleSpin and Porco Rosso". Animationsource.org. Archived from the original on September 3, 2010. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- Voice actor decisions – Baloo and Kit Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine Jymn Magon, co-creator of TaleSpin who initially cast Harris for the role of Baloo: "his age was a factor. He didn't have the slick, con man timing anymore. I loved working with Phil, so I was distraught to inform management that he just wasn't going to work out for 65 episodes. (Besides, we had to chauffeur him to and from Palm Springs for the recording sessions – a 4 hour round trip!!)"
- Weagle, Gregory. "TaleSpin Crew". Cloudkicker.50webs.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
- The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 8, no. 2 (typo in magazine: should be "no. 3"), May/June 1990: pp. 22, 34, 37, 46, 49–53, 57–59.
- The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 8, no. 3 (typo in magazine: should be "no. 4"), July/August 1990: pp. 45–47.
- "Primetime Emmy Awards (1991)". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- "Disney's 'Tale Spin' Gets Late Nomination for TV Animation Emmy". Associated Press News. July 25, 1991. Archived from the original on October 19, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- "Nominees/Winners | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". Emmys.com. Archived from the original on July 22, 2014. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
- "DISNEY'S TALE SPIN: PLUNDER & LIGHTNING | Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". Emmys.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
- ""TaleSpin" Plunder & Lightning (TV episode 1990) – IMDb". IMDb.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2011. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- "Block Party: Four Disney Animated Series". The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 13, no. 5, October/November 1995: p. 36.
- Weagle, Gregory. "TaleSpin Edits". Cloudkicker.50webs.com. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
- "Bygones". TaleSpin. Season 1. Episode 64. May 3, 1991.
- "The Incredible Shrinking Molly". TaleSpin. Season 1. Episode 63. April 8, 1991.
- Gray, Doug (w), Lavoradori, Alberto (p,i). "The Dogs of War!" Disney Adventures v2 #1 (November 1991), The Walt Disney Company, Story code: KZ 4590
- "Question about the relationship between Baloo & Becky to Jymn Magon". Animationsource.org. Archived from the original on July 28, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2010.
- "Special two-hour television feature 'Tale Spin: Plunder and Lightning' set to launch Disney's new animated series". press release. PR Newswire. August 14, 1990. Retrieved November 12, 2011.[dead link]
- ""TaleSpin" Plunder & Lightning (TV episode 1990) - IMDb". IMDb.com. Retrieved February 14, 2013.
- "Flying Dupes". Apple.
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